Spaceship Financial Services and Tidswell Financial Services have each paid $12,600 in penalties following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation that found the superannuation promoter and trustee made false and misleading claims about their fundamental investment philosophy.
ASIC issued the infringement notices after concerns that the promotional statements made on Spaceship’s website prioritised marketing over accurate disclosure.
The statement read: “We will fight to get you the very best assets in your portfolio … We will measure companies in our portfolio based on their ability to provide defensibility of profits and high levels of product differentiation.”
ASIC said the statements mislead prospective members as 79 per cent of the fund was invested in index-tracking funds, which involved no qualitative analysis of the underlying companies.
ASIC deputy chair, Peter Kell, said the accurate promotion of superannuation products was critical to enable Australian consumers to make well-informed financial decisions, “particularly in this case given the Spaceship Fund was specifically targeting young investors”.
The profit-to-member super fund’s MySuper default option has returned 9.85 per cent for the financial year 2024–25.
Colonial First State (CFS) has announced solid double-digit returns for its MySuper balanced and growth equivalent funds during the financial year.
The super fund’s Future Saver High Growth option delivered an 11.9 per cent return for the financial year 2024–25, on the back of a diversified portfolio and actively managed investment strategy.
HESTA has delivered a 10.18 per cent return for its MySuper Balanced Growth option in the 2024–25 financial year, marking the third consecutive year of returns above 9 per cent for the $80 billion industry fund’s default investment strategy.